So, Georgia heads to the Plains this Saturday, struggling to qualify for a bowl while Auburn looks to clinch the SEC West.
That’s just how we all foresaw things back in early August, right?
Right now, I can’t help but think about how Ted Roof, of all people, approaches his game plan. He’s got the luxury of the best player in the country running Gus Malzahn’s offense to perfection. That’s a helluva margin for error. He’s also got one of the top candidates – if not the top candidate – for SEC defensive player of the year in his arsenal. Yes, his secondary is suspect and his linebacking corps lacks depth. But it seems to me that he shouldn’t care about that overly much.
If I’m Roof, I’m going to blitz. I’m going to blitz some more after that. And then I’d blitz even more. Georgia’s offensive line has struggled all season when it’s had to deal with that. Even Idaho State was able to pressure the Dawgs’ offense by sending more than the line could block last week.
Sure, A.J. could have a big game. But in the big picture, Roof shouldn’t care if he gets 150+ yards. And Aaron Murray may get going and throw for 300+ yards as we saw in Jacksonville against a better defense than Roof’s (hopefully without the interceptions, though). That shouldn’t matter to Roof either.
All Ted Roof has to worry about is getting one more stop than Todd Grantham does. If Auburn comes out on top of a 52-45 score, mission accomplished. If blitzing slows Georgia’s running game down and throws Aaron Murray’s timing off for a key series, that may be all Roof needs for the win.
Get The Picture 
Yep, hard to argue with that game plan. Is there anyway we can stop the Cambot?
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Only by hiring Bob Lee Swagger.
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How many books has he been in?
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Several and a couple of movies.
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Marky Mark as Bob Lee was appaling, that character needed an Eastwood in his prime type actor.
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Gotta love them Southern Jarheads. My beloved Corp celebrates a Birthday this week. Maybe I’ll get late present on the Plains?
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We need turnovers from them and commit none ourselves, a defensive touchdown or two would be nice too.
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In a more or less related thought, it is getting very damn lonely here on the moral high ground.
Chris (Text Bandit) Rainey has two blocked punts in addition to his contributions on offense in the Weasels rout of Vandy.
Zach Mettenberger has offers from two teams (LSU and Bama) a whole lot better than us, and will, no doubt, at some point show up on the radar of Steve Spurrier.
There is some kharmic message here, and I am afraid I understand it.
Take your rain gear to Auburn.
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By “moral high ground” and “karmaic message” do you mean all those Georgia players on the police blotter are finally gonna pay off?
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Hello pot, this is kettle…
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Those thugs in Athens don’t spell their middle names correctly and illegally drive their scooters down alleys. It’s exactly the same thing.
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I’m still not completely over the whole name thing. How in the world does a kid not know his middle name or not know how to spell it?
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Hold on, Jeffy Schultz has another column to write about Todd Grantham, the most vile person in football ever.
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I think our line has done well against the blitz, not so much on the run and the best remedy vs a blitzing D, our screen passes have been worse than atrocious all year. Saw Ealey wiff again on a blitz Saturday that cost us in the red zone as well.
I’d blitz heavy when Ealey is in (it’s either a run to him OR a cakewalk to the QB) and drop on King, IMO.
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It is perplexing to me why we have not figured out how to run a basic screen play. The backdoor screen to Orson Charles worked well against Florida but they did not try many, if any, screens to the RBs which should have been open due to all the blitzes Florida ran ran. Perhaps that is one play that Bobo can work on this week
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Wasn’t sure whether I’d mention this or not but what the hell. Having won 6 of the last 8 in this series, if we were by some miracle to actually beat them (I think that’s 15-20 percent chance) it would actually even up the series that shifted to Auburn’s favor in the laties. 53-53-8 and it would be…one for the thumb, how would that be for kharma???
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late eighties
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It will come down to turnovers. I’m fairly optimistic about this game. UGA is coming in with nothing to lose and a chip on their shoulder (I hope). This win salvages some respect if we can pull it off.
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Herbstreit, is that you? 😉
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That was meant to be a reply to JBJ.
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Isn’t our defensive game plan much the same? I mean, all we need to do is make sure we score when they don’t. And that involves getting them to stop at some point.
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Sure, if you think Murray is going to have as much success against Auburn as Newton will against Georgia.
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Bingo. A lot of folks seem to think this is the case, forgetting that all season long, we’ve started VERY slowly. Hell, it took forever just to get a TD against Idaho State.
We could easily be down 21-0 before we’ve blinked.
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I think he can, it just so happens the odds aren’t in his favor is all. Damnit Senator, stop using cold logic and stats. New Ton will get his yards, there is no denying that. However, I think Murray has more ways and weapons to get yards. BTW, random observation from this past game. Is it just me or Does Brandon Smith look like he spent his time away hitting the weights? He looks a lot more bulked up since last I saw him (good thing IMO).
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I can’t really see where Murray has more weapons that Auburn, but he does have enough to keep it competitive, I’d have to agree there. The simple fact is that we have an explosive offense and have for several years now, even last year with Cox at the helm.
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Yeah, Dyer is a hoss and their WR resemble USC’s in terms of size. They’re all pretty big. Plus, you know, Cam Newton.
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I think Bobo dropped the screen pass from the offensive arsenal after the Joe Cox Experience.
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UGA had thoughts of dropping fb after the “joe cox experience”.
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If UGA doesnt turn the ball over on saturday they win the football game.
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Really looking forward to the Vance Cuff vs Cam Newton matchup.
We have to be the worst team in college football in terms of allowing conversions on 3rd and long…Newton will convert some of those with his arm and some with his legs. Going to be frustrating to watch. Our O will probably need to put up 50 to have any chance.
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If you screen against the blitz you can’t take forever to get the ball out and the line can never get out front it seems. I see UGA getting down early, fighting like heck to get back and losing close. Then we will all be bragging that we didn’t quit and played em’ tough. That’s our M.O. these days.
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Moral victories are a welcome sight among some of these DAWG fans. They have been reduced to the likes of South Carolina fans, and don’t dare question how good they are. They get mad and accuse you of not being a fan if you pointout the obvious.
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My hopes for the game.
– a good game for a while, but the streak ends
– that cute/ugly dog is eviscerated at midfield by an eagle
That is all.
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Hoses out.
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Correction: My three hopes for the game.
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Put Ogletree in the box to shadow Newton & make them beat us passing the ball. They probably still can, But, I went with the Senator on the Gators beating the Dawgs: now I believe the Dawgs can pull off the upset. If we lose 52 to 45 you can always blame Bobo for the loss.
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Kool-Aid all around. If we had beaten even one team this year with a winning record I could see some of the optimism but we haven’t so I’m not. Hope the team can keep it close and not embarrass themselves but AU is due and they are way better than us.
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On offense, yes. On defense, no.
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Chizik thinks the Bulldogs have worked the kinks out of their new 3-4 defense under Todd Grantham. “Boy, they’ve really settled down,” he said. “They’ve played very disciplined. They’re playing very physical. They’re playing really fast right now.”
…from Andy Bitter
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Grantham’s still making personnel changes, so I’m not so sure about that “worked out the kinks” talk.
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That doesn’t seem to matter, Senator.
They score as much as they need, every week.
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Maybe Georgia is due…………
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I agree with the Senator. Roof should blitz all day. The leash on Murray has been tightened to a point that he’s no longer a threat to run or even roll out – he’s limited to being a pocket passer. Throw in our uncanny ability to drop passes and/or fumble at key moments. If a back catches a screen in open field, he’ll probably fall down a yard short of the marker. Bring the blitz and let Dawgs self-destruct.
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I got to step in here and revoke your Dawg card… hate it. I do. But grow a pair … hunker down..(you do know what that means?) and then reapply . It’s all good, you will feel better for this negative posting catharsis and I won’t see you pussy azz posts for a while. It’s a win.. win.
We good?
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hunker down…
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W. Cobb has and excellent point.
Murray has been excellent out of the pocket, whether flushed or by design (soooo rare).
This year’s in the shitter, but if someone sees to it that this aspect of his game becomes part of the plan, his career will be epic.
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“an,” dammit.
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our defense *is* better than theirs, but unfortunately it’s still our d against their o. i don’t see how we stand a chance without 1) getting a couple of turnovers and 2) running the ball well enough to to keep newton off the field for long stretches.
one thing: if the dawgs can’t play loose and fast in this one from beginning to end, then i’ll be convinced there are profound psychological obstacles to this team’s success next year.
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I’ll be pulling for the Dawgs again on Saturday, but I think they have no chance. (I know, statistically speaking they do have a chance, I just don’t see it happening.)
Also, y’all have beaten them pretty good over the last few years so I think they are ready to serve some payback.
I wish you all the best.
BD
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Nice posts…however with that rationale we deserve a hell of lot of payback regarding gators…..
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Maybe not beating us since 2005 is enough to get in their heads the way Jacksonville is in our heads?
(Me, I’m still hoping for a Newton suspension.)
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Call me crazy, but I think a 5 year losing streak is just deserts for the Aubbies after that 2005
game. If I were Richt, I’d make the team watch the 2005 ending all week long. Barring JAX in 2002, that was the worst loss for me in the Richt era.
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Not saying we should be an even bet based on what we have seen from both teams but I think your “no chance” characterization is pretty severe.
1. Auburn came from behind to win against Clem’s Son. We have lots more weapons than Clemson.
2. Auburn came back against SC to win another close game. We can play heads up, or better with SC.
3. Kentucky lost to AU on a last second FG.
4. Auburn won by 3 points at MSU.
5. Arkansas lost a shootout without AU without their #1 QB and two bad reviews. I still cannot believe we lost that game to the Hawgs.
That all said, I feel we only have a 20% chance to win against Auburn, primarily because I don’t think we can get penetration against their offensive line. If CTG can devise a way for us to doo that, I feel we will win. I think we can score 30+ against them, just don’t know if that will be enough. Betting line is UGA +8 1/2, that is only 2 points away from how LSU’s chances were perceived against Bama. Certainly not insurmountable odds. They are rolling, but they have proven they aren’t invincible. We may have as good a shot as you do in the Iron Bowl because our offense looks more capable of lighting them up. Your defense is better but not sure anyone shuts them down. You just have to outscore teams like Auburn and Oregon.
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